


Kate Beckett - Try For Baby

by NikkiRose4027



Category: Castle
Genre: F/M, The Sims, Video & Computer Games
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2014-08-18
Updated: 2014-08-18
Packaged: 2018-02-13 16:37:21
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,307
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2157672
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/NikkiRose4027/pseuds/NikkiRose4027
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>An invitation to dinner over at Castle's place leads Beckett to discover some secrets on his laptop. AU. (Written Oct 2011-Dec 2012)</p>
            </blockquote>





	Kate Beckett - Try For Baby

**Author's Note:**

> Helloooo! So, this would be a repost of my story on ffnet from three years ago, BUT I am trying a complete overhaul of it, taking it out of first person and beefing it up a little. Nothing plotwise should be changing though... at least that's the plan. I hope you enjoy it!

The elevator ride up to the penthouse level seemed longer than usual. Kate Beckett rocked back and forth on her five inch heels in anticipation. Maybe it was just her dread of finally reaching the top was screwing with her brain just to torture her. Before she could figure out a definite answer, the familiar ding signaled the door opening.

She still didn’t know why she had agreed to dinner with Castle. Sure, he had managed to convince the detective that she probably had nothing to eat in her apartment, which true to form she really didn't. But it's not like she can't take care of herself. She doesn’t need some man to take care of her.

Nevertheless, she was here. Kate exited the elevator and walked over to the door of Castle's loft. The tall brunette stared at the door for a good two minutes before she even thought about knocking. That humorous sense of dread came back. Or maybe it wasn't dread. It was beginning to feel a lot like butterflies, which was even worse. She reached up the center of her chest and rubbed the gunshot wound subconsciously, a habit she had developed in stressful times.

She groaned at her own stupidity. It was just dinner. Why was she acting like this is like some important date? _Okay, I am not a teenage girl. I am a strong, independent, and emotionally sound detective. I can handle dinner with my partner._

Before she could regret it, she raised her arm and knocked on the door three times.

Kate was greeted with absolute silence. Was he not here? She checked the time on her dad's watch, checking to make sure it was wound correctly, and also whipped her phone out of her coat pocket just to reconfirm. It was 8:00, exactly when he had said to come. Knowing Castle he would have opened the door by then, or at least called out to her that it was open. She pushed her ear up to the door, and still all she could hear was silence. Jumping to worse case scenarios, her heart began to race. But before Kate could lose control, she calmed down and knocked on the door again.

Again, nothing. The detective called out this time.

"Castle? You in there?" She was surprised at the concern in her own voice. This was shaping up to be like a start of some B horror flick.

The lack of response triggered the cop in Kate Beckett, and she cautiously tried the door handle. It was unlocked. Trying not to freak out but ending up still extremely concerned, she pulled out her gun and entered the apartment quietly.

The place looked clean, no signs of a struggle or anything. With a quick glance into the kitchen, she noticed a large stainless steel pot on the stove that seemed to be on a low heat setting. Kate could smell the food now too, it was chili. She ignored the grumbling in her stomach and continued to search the loft, her gun still poised in front of her as a guide.

"Anybody in here?" Kate called up the stairs. Maybe Alexis or Martha was here and they just couldn't hear the door from their rooms. No response came from up there, so she turned her attention toward Castle's study.

The detective saw a glimpse of someone sitting in the desk chair through the bookcase on either side of the door, but couldn't tell who it was. She tiptoed quickly and stood in front of the door. Maybe it was Castle, maybe it was a murderer. Fearing for her partner's safety, she opened the door suddenly, her gun pointing at the chair. Whoever it was in the chair leapt up immediately.

"BECKETT?! WHAT THE HELL?!?" Shrieked the grown man in a voice that was probably two octaves higher than it should have been.

She had opened the door to reveal a very scared Castle with headphones in his ears(well only one in his ear barely hanging on from the sudden jump up), his hands up, and a white panicked look on his handsome face. He had dressed down a little since they had been at the precinct, in a v neck t-shirt as opposed to his usual button down, but still had on those jeans that hugged his butt so well that she got a bit distracted this morning. Like how she was getting distracted now. Breaking out of her reverie, she immediately lowered her gun.

She realized that she had probably overreacted in this whole scenario, but her blood was still pumping so fast her first initial response was to snap back at him. "What the hell, Castle? I knocked twice and even called out!"

He glanced at the clock on the wall and gasped as he pulled other the headphone out of his ear. "Oh God, sorry, I lost track of time. I made dinner, it’s ready, but I just got distracted.”

Okay, that was a good enough excuse for her. It happens. But, being the ultimately stubborn Kate Beckett, she wouldn't back down so easily, "Well, what in the hell were you doing that was so distracting?"

He looked guiltily back down at his laptop screen, looked back at her with a panicked expression, and didn’t answer her. Oh, God. That’s just…

Kate grimaced in disgust. "Uck…. Really, Castle? _Really_?"

His eyebrow furrowed as he looked back at her, then back at the screen, but then it dawned on him. He seemed to understand what Kate had implied that he had been… distracted by, and he immediately denied it, "NO! No, it's not what it looks like!" Despite his denial, Castle had lowered his hands to rest on the top of the laptop to close it.

The brunette cocked her eyebrow. Yeah, like she was going to believe him with that extremely embarrassed and shameful face.

"Then let me see the screen." She challenged. As expected, Castle lowered the screen even more and shook his head. He looked like a little boy who had just been caught breaking a dish, he looked so loss. It was sort of… adorable. She could see him attempt to put an answer together. An answer that wouldn’t really reveal the truth, she surmised.

"It's not… porn, Kate." Her demeanor softened a tiny bit as he used her first name. It sounded truthful enough for her. He had now fully closed the laptop, leaning his hands on the top stretching out his arms, and Kate noticed his biceps were giving his shirt sleeves a workout. He looked about ready to reveal the truth, but hesitated. "I just… you can't see it."

Now the detective was intrigued. Was he planning a surprise party or something? What was causing him to be so secretive?

Kate sighed in mock frustration. Oh, she would get him. "Fine. Anyway, I'm starving. Are we going to eat or keep playing this pointless little game?"

He nodded and walked over toward the door. Kate turned as he began leading her out of the room with his hand on the small of her back. He wasn't necessarily pushing me, but urging me forward nonetheless. She sniggered at his eagerness. Whatever it was, he couldn’t wait to get her the farthest distance from it.

She saw her chance as he walked with her towards the living room. Quickly, to catch him off guard, Kate whipped his arm over her head and ran back to his laptop. "Aha!" she exclaimed in victory as she sat in the spinny chair before he had even turned around, bewildered.

He covered his face in his hands and groaned in defeat and panic, slowly walking back towards the study. "NO! Beckett, please don't! You'll kill me!"

Unaffected by his pleas, she had already opened the laptop. Surprisingly, no videos or web browsers were open. The only thing on the screen was a loading screen for a Sims video game. It read.

**LOADING THE CASTLE FAMILY**

She looked at him in disbelief. "A game, Castle? You were afraid of me seeing a _game_?"

Castle laughed nervously and she saw he already had his hand on the back of the laptop, ready to close it as soon as she moved her fingers. Sounding way too cheerful he laughed again, "Heh, yeah! A game! Now, come on, Beckett! Let me close it."

"Why? I want to see what it's about. It sounds very… interesting." Not that Kate really gave a damn, she just wanted to see him be nervous for a bit longer. She loved it when she made Castle squirm like this, all uncomfortable and so not like the charming Casanova persona he is fond of. But she was also kind of interested in why he didn't want her to see it so badly. It was just a game, right?

Rick looked back at the screen; the loading bar was almost full. She could hear and see the gulp going down his throat. In a nervous voice, Castle responded. "Oh it's not fun at all; it's not your thing. Will you please move your fingers? I don't want to crush them." He had lowered the screen a couple more inches.

Kate kept them exactly where they were and tried to change the subject.

"Why would you need headphones for this game anyway? You were alone in the house." The load bar was now at ninety percent and slowly climbing.

One of his hands abandoning the laptop, he ran his hand through his hair swiftly as he seemed to struggle with her question.

"I don't know. The sounds are better with headphones?” He glared down at her immobile fingers on the keyboard.

Content with his answer, Kate remained silent as the bar continued to fill up. Castle seemed to grow impatient and stole glances at both her face and the extremely close loading bar. He _really_ didn’t want her to see this! Jeez, he was acting strange. He grabbed her shoulder gently with his large warm hand. At the sudden contact she looked up at his eyes, which were pleading. "Kate, **please**. Forget about it."

At his soft words, Kate began to regret her prying. What was his business was his business. She was fine with making him uncomfortable, but if she had set boundaries for him, then she would obey his for her. She nodded silently, not wanting to cause him anymore grief over this. Trying to maintain some dignity, she got up from the chair and stood eye to eye with him.

"I'm uh… I’m sorry, Castle.” Kate apologized, being as sincere as possible.

His crinkly smile at her words made the detective feel a hundred times better. His hand was still on her shoulder, and at her apology he squeezed it lightly. For the first time since before she knocked on the door, the butterflies conquered her stomach under the touch of his strong hands.

"It's okay, Kate. And I'm sorry I didn't come to the door when you knocked." He murmured, the twinkle back in his baby blues. He let his hand fall slowly from her shoulder.

Kate smiled kindly and went to go from behind the desk, that food in the kitchen suddenly calling to her.

Before she could get from behind his desk, a blast of cheesy music came from the headphones connected to the laptop. If it was that loud, no wonder he hadn’t heard her at the door. Despite her attempt to leave it alone, her immediate reaction was to look at the screen. Kate heard Castle swear quietly to himself.

The game seemed to be centered on a family, the pixelated layout of the house was cut away so you could look inside. It was almost like a snapshot of daily life, in a house that resembled Castle's loft in ways like a similar layout and color scheme. It was kind of impressive.

She saw a male character in a dress shirt and jeans reading a book in the corner with his legs crossed, surrounded by full bookcases. Also, a teenage redheaded girl was at the bar of the kitchen, with a notebook open and a pen in hand, a loading bar above her head.

Amazed by the familiar scene, Kate looked up at the still panicked writer and grinned from ear to ear. "This is amazing, Castle. They really look like you and Alexis at your loft!" At her response a tight-lipped smile showed up on his nervous face. He hummed in agreement, but he looked down and watched the scene cautiously.

Suddenly a police car drove up to the street in front of the cyber Castle’s house. Rick gasped, in what seemed to be horror and dread. Before she could ask what his problem was, a sound popped and a blue information bubble came up in the top right corner of the screen. She looked at the bulletin to see what had happened.

**Kate Castle has returned from work.**

Sure enough, a character that resembled Kate appeared out of the car, dressed in a police department’s uniform. Her mouth hung open as the real Kate turned to stare at Rick, who simply whispered weakly, "I told you…"

In the corner of the screen, the "Rick Castle" closed his book and set it on the table. He ran to the doorway and out onto the porch of the house. He sprinted in front of Kate and an action appeared in the corner. When Kate went to hover the mouse over the action it said, "Greet Kate". Suddenly both characters smiled, reached for each other, and shared a passionate kiss.

A blush rose up in her cheeks and the real life Kate whipped her head around and glared at the wide-eyed real life Castle.

"What the hell is this?!"

**Author's Note:**

> Please comment! If you've read it before, tell me if you like this version better or not, I would really appreciate it. AND if the suspense is killing you, the original finished story is still on ffnet under nikkirose4027. Thanks!


End file.
